PALMERS BIG HOAX CREATES A CLIMATE OF UNCERTAINTY THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 28, 2014 12:00AM Paul Kelly Editor-At-Large Sydney BENEATH the calculated and distracting farce that he created this week, Clive Palmer did what was expected of him — announced he would vote to abolish Australia’s high-profile emissions trading scheme, the biggest legislative reform of the Labor era. Palmer had a weak hand that he needed to conceal. As a businessman being punished by a hefty carbon tax bill and as a politician elected on a platform to abolish the carbon tax, Palmer had limited options. He is giving Tony Abbott the victory, above all, that Abbott had to have. Unless he changes his mind and abandons the position he took this week, Palmer will sweep Labor’s ETS from the statute books in one of the great historical reversals of the past half century, the most recent parallel being Labor’s abolition of John Howard’s Work Choices scheme. Once abolished, resurrection of an emissions trading scheme for Australia will be a long, hard, bitter road. Palmer’s decision significantly strengthens the Prime Minister’s hand against Labor at the next election. It is one thing for Labor to argue for the status quo. It is a much harder call for Labor to campaign at the 2016 election for a mandate to resurrect a carbon pricing scheme, a position that contradicts its cost-of-living campaign and misjudges the extent to which its ineptitude in office has turned opinion against carbon pricing schemes. .... (cont. at The Australian)
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 02:51:37 +0000